1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for assessing environmental load of a product, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for assessing environmental load of a product over a lifetime thereof from fabrication to disposal thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is presently required to accurately assess influence exerted by various products including industrial products, on an environment, and reduce environmental load, in view of preservation of the global environment.
Conventional assessment of environmental load of a certain product has been carried out by checking presence or absence and an amount of hazardous materials only in a part of steps of fabricating the product. However, such a conventional method cannot provide accurate assessment, if environmental load is to be assessed about an amount of carbon dioxide and waste heat, which is just small in each of fabrication steps, but cannot be ignored over all the fabrication steps.
In addition, environmental load cannot be ignored for some products in circulation, use and disposal thereof. However, the above-mentioned conventional method cannot be applied to such products.
In order to reduce environmental load, it would be necessary to design a product taking into consideration environmental load over a life cycle of a product from fabrication to disposal thereof. In order to make it possible to design a product in such a manner, it is necessary to quantify environmental load over a life cycle of a product. As a method of assessing environmental load over a life cycle of a product, there has been known a method called life cycle assessment (hereinafter, referred to simply as xe2x80x9cLCAxe2x80x9d).
One of LCAs is a pile-up process, wherein a life cycle of a product from fabrication to disposal thereof is separated into nodes such as selection of raw material, fabrication of raw material, fabrication of a product, use of a product, and disposal of a product. All nodes are defined as being connected to one another in a line. Environmental load in each of nodes is separately measured, and the thus measured environmental loads are summed to thereby obtain total environmental load of an object product.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a model used in the above-mentioned pile-up process, which model is comprised of a plurality of nodes connected to one another in a line. FIG. 1 illustrates nodes relating to a product A. Namely, a node 60 of gathering raw material, a node 61 of making raw material, a node 62 of fabricating a product A, a node 63 of using a product A, and a node 64 of disposing a product A are all connected to a product A in a line.
For instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-121588 has suggested a method of assessing environmental load, based on life cycle assessment. In this method, there are calculated environmental load in fabrication nodes from gathering raw material to fabricating a final product, environmental load in practical use nodes wherein a product is sold in a market, and practically used by a user, and environmental load in waste nodes wherein a product is wasted and decomposed for recycling, and then, those environmental load are summed. Each of the environmental loads in both practical use and waste nodes is comprised of first load in each of the nodes and second load in steps of fabricating a product or products to be used in each of the nodes, and the first and second loads are both measured in the method. Furthermore, environmental load is measured based on both an input coefficient matrix obtained from an input-output table and a unit vector of environmental load.
The method suggested in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-121588 uses an input-output table which is used in economics, taking into consideration that it is quite difficult to find raw materials necessary for fabricating a final product, in every node.
If such a model as illustrated in FIG. 1 in which a plurality of nodes are connected to one another in a line is to be used, it would be almost impossible to assess environmental load of an electric or mechanical product constituted of a plurality of parts. Hence, the inventor has suggested a method of assessing environmental load of an object product in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-311760. In the suggested method, a relation between unit steps is represented in a tree structure where an object product is represented by a root, and a unit or single step is represented by a node. Such a tree structure is made for both steps relating to fabrication of the object product and steps of disposal of the object product. Total environmental load of the object product is calculated based on environmental load measured in each of unit steps.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a tree structure model. In the illustrated tree structure model, it is assumed that a product A is constituted of a part D and a part E. Nodes 72 and 75 of fabricating the parts D and E are located in parallel upstream of a node 71 of fabricating the product A. A node 74 of gathering raw material B of which the part D is constituted and a node 73 of transporting the raw material B are located upstream of the node 72 of fabricating the part D. Similarly, a node 77 of gathering raw material C of which the part E is constituted and a node 76 of transporting the raw material C are located upstream of the node 75 of fabricating the part E.
In the illustrated tree structure model, it is also assumed that the product A is decomposed into a decomposition F and a decomposition G. A node 78 of using the product A, a node 79 of transporting the product B, and a node 80 of decomposing the product A are located downstream of the product A. In addition, a node 81 of disposing the decomposition F and a node 82 of disposing the decomposition G are located in parallel downstream of the node 80 of decomposing the product A.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a structure of an apparatus for assessing environmental load, suggested in the above-mentioned Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-311760. The illustrated apparatus is used for assessing influence to environment over a life cycle of a product from fabrication to disposal of an object product. As mentioned above, a life cycle of an object product is divided into unit nodes from fabrication to disposal. The illustrated apparatus measures environmental load in each of unit nodes, and sums the thus measured environmental loads to thereby calculate total environmental load of an object product.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the apparatus is comprised of an input section 51 through which data used for calculation of environmental load is input, a data-storing section 52 storing data having been input through the input section 51, a calculating section 53 which calculates total environmental load of an object product, and an output section 54 which outputs data about each of unit steps and the thus calculated total environmental load of an object product.
The input section 51 receives data about content of each of unit steps, data about a relation among unit steps, environmental load subjects occurring in each of unit steps, and environmental loads in the environmental load subjects.
The data-storing section 52 stores the subjects and environmental loads having been input through the input section 51.
The calculating section 53 calculates total environmental load of an object product based on both a relation among unit steps, stored in the data-storing section 56 and environmental loads in each of unit steps.
FIG. 4A illustrates an example of data of a unit step relating to fabrication of an object product, stored in the data-storing section 56, and FIG. 4B illustrates an example of data of a unit step relating to disposal of an object product, stored in the data-storing section 56.
It is assumed that a product is composed of m raw materials in a target unit step in data illustrated in FIG. 4A. Data illustrated in FIG. 4A includes a name of the product, data 1-l about the product, including data about fabrication steps, names of the m raw materials, n names of environmental load subjects, and n environmental loads.
It is assumed that a product is decomposed into m decomposition materials in a target unit step in data illustrated in FIG. 4B. Data illustrated in FIG. 4A includes a name of the product, data 1-l about the product, including data about decomposition steps, names of the m decomposition materials, n names of environmental load subjects, and n environmental loads.
By storing data of every unit step, it is possible to describe a life cycle of an object product to be assessed, as a tree structure including a product as a center and fabrication and disposal nodes branching off from the product, and to calculate total environmental load of an object product, based on a relation among unit steps in the tree structure.
In addition, the above-mentioned apparatus for assessing environmental load makes it possible to reuse environmental loads in unit steps, measured to assess a certain product, for assessing environmental load of another product.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-311792 has suggested an apparatus for assessing environmental load, including a computer-aided design (CAD) system, and a relational data base storing data about assembling and decomposing, and data about environment. According to the Publication, the suggested apparatus is superior in assembling and decomposing, and makes it possible to design a product exerting small load on environment.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-16663 has suggested an apparatus of assessing environmental load having the same structure as that of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3, but further including a storing section for storing image data therein to thereby make it possible to facilitate to readily grasp each step, and to prevent an error in data input.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-161399 has suggested an apparatus for assessing environmental load, including an input section through which basic data is input, a first memory storing the basic data having been input through the input section, a second memory storing a coefficient indicative of a degree to which a man exerts an influence on environment, means for calculating environmental capacity based on the basic data stored in the first memory and the coefficient stored in the second memory, and means for outputting a result of calculation.
However, the above-mentioned apparatuses of assessing environmental load are all accompanied with a problem that a step of inputting data about environmental load having been collected to assess environmental load is quite complicated. All of the above-mentioned apparatuses include a data base and the like, and stores data about environmental load into the data base.
Data about environmental load to be stored in the data base is generally collected in a line of fabricating products, a line of fabricating parts, and/or a line of wasting or recycling products. These lines at which data about environmental load is collected are separate away from one another, and are generally separate from a location at which assessment of environmental load is actually carried out by means of a data base.
Hence, such conventional apparatuses for assessing environmental load as mentioned above requires data to be transfer and to be input into a data base in the form of paper, resulting in that a step of storing data about environmental load cannot avoid being complicated. In particular, if environmental load of a product constituted of a mass of parts, such as an automobile and a personal computer, is to be assessed by means of the above-mentioned conventional apparatuses, work-volume of collecting data about environmental load becomes quite vast, and accordingly, it would not be practical to collect such data.
FIG. 5 illustrates a tree structure model of a life cycle of a personal computer. In FIG. 5, a rectangle having four sides of uniform thickness indicates a node, and a rectangle having upper and lower sides of greater thickness indicates a product.
A final step in fabrication of a personal computer is a step of assembling a body a hard disc drive (HDD), a substrate or mother board, and a power unit. Various steps such as a step of fabricating a hard disc drive and a power unit are located upstream of the step of fabricating a personal computer.
A step of disposing a used personal computer includes a step of dissembling a personal computer in open loop recycle and a step of recovering gold from integrated circuits (IC), and further includes a step of finally disposing a personal computer as a waste. When a personal computer is disposed as a waste, it is necessary to grasp an amount of material which might be poisonous in dependence on how it is disposed, such as lead (Pb). When gold is to be recovered, it would be necessary to grasp an amount of gold used in a personal computer. Thus, it is important to grasp an amount of constituents of an object product, such as gold and lead in the above-mentioned example, when environmental load is to be assessed.
Turning to fabrication of a present personal computer, a personal computer manufacturer may fabricate a body and a mother board by itself, but generally asks parts manufactures to fabricate a hard disc drive and a power unit. Though a personal computer manufacturer determines some items in a specification, such as performances of a hard disc drive and a power unit, other items are often entrusted to a part manufacturer.
Accordingly, a personal computer manufacturer is not familiar with parts actually used in a hard disc drive or a power unit, and hence, is not familiar also with power consumption and an amount of carbon dioxide in fabrication of a hard disc drive, and power consumption in fabrication of parts constituting a hard disc drive.
In addition, parts constituting a hard disc drive are often changed. For instance, configuration of a circuit is often varied, and parts constituting the circuit are often changed to other parts. Hence, even if a personal computer manufacturer could get data about the above-mentioned matters from a part manufacturer, it would be almost impossible for a personal computer manufacturer to collect data about environmental load in steps upstream of a step of fabrication of a personal computer, in order to carry out a life cycle assessment of a personal computer. If a personal computer manufacturer could get such data, it would be often old.
In order to carry out a life cycle assessment of a personal computer with respect to a step of disposal of a personal computer, it would be necessary to get data about steps upstream of a step of fabrication of a personal computer for recovering gold (Au) or grasping an amount of poisonous material such as lead (Pb).
In the end, since a conventional apparatus of assessing environmental load carries out assessment on the assumption that a manufacturer of an object product such as an automobile and a personal computer can collect and store all data about environmental load, the apparatus might not be able to carry out assessment for a product constituted of a lot of parts, because it would be much work-volume to collect all data about environmental load.
In brief, conventional apparatuses of assessing environmental load are accompanied with problems that procedure for inputting data about environmental load collected to make environmental load assessment is quite complicated, and that the conventional apparatuses cannot make environmental load assessment for a product constituted of a lot of parts, such as an automobile and a personal computer.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of assessing environmental load and an apparatus of doing the same, both of which can make environmental load assessment with ease relative to a conventional method and apparatus of doing the same, and can make environmental load assessment for a product constituted of a lot of parts, such as an automobile and a personal computer.
In one aspect, there is provided a method of assessing total environmental load of an object product, including the steps of (a) collecting first data about environmental load at each of locations at which nodes relating to the object product are to be carried out, and (b) retrieving the first data in accordance with a predetermined condition to thereby calculate the total environmental load.
There is further provided a method of assessing an amount of each of constituents of an object product, including the steps of (a) collecting first data about environmental load at each of locations at which nodes relating to the object product are to be carried out, and (b) retrieving the first data in accordance with a predetermined condition to thereby calculate the amount of each of constituents of an object product.
For instance, the first data may be retrieved through a network.
There is still further provided a method of assessing total environmental load of an object product, including the steps of (a) collecting first data about environmental load at each of nodes relating to the object product, the first data including second data for retrieving data about environmental load of other node to which the each of nodes has a direct link, (b) retrieving the first data directly associated with the object product, in accordance with a predetermined condition, (c) recursively retrieving other first data about environmental load, based on second data included in the first data having been retrieved in the step (b), and (d) calculating total environmental load, based on the first data having been retrieved in the steps (b) and (c).
There is yet further provided a method of assessing an amount of each of constituents of an object product, including the steps of (a) collecting first data about environmental load at each of nodes relating to the object product, the first data including second data for retrieving data about environmental load of other node to which the each of nodes has a direct link, and further including third data indicative of an amount of the each of constituents at the each of nodes, (b) retrieving the first data directly associated with the object product, in accordance with a predetermined condition, (c) recursively retrieving other first data about environmental load, based on second data included in the first data having been retrieved in the step (b), and (d) calculating an amount of the each of constituents, based on the first data having been retrieved in the steps (b) and (c).
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for assessing total environmental load of an object product, including (a) a first unit collecting first data about environmental load at each of nodes relating to the object product, and (b) a second unit retrieving the first data stored in the first unit, and calculating total environmental load of the object product, based on the first data.
It is preferable that the first and second units are separate units from each other.
For instance, the first unit may be comprised of: (a) an input section through which the first data relating to associated node is input into the first unit, and (b) a data-storing section storing the first data having been input through the input section.
For instance, the second unit may be comprised of a data-retrieving section which retrieves the first data stored in the data-storing section.
As an alternative, the second unit may be comprised of: (a) an input section through which a condition for retrieving data is input into the first unit, (b) a data-retrieving section which retrieves data stored in the data-storing section of the first unit in accordance with the condition, (c) an assessing section which calculates total environmental load of the object product, based on the first data having been retrieved by the data-retrieving section, and (d) an output section which outputs the total environmental load.
There is further provided an apparatus for assessing an amount of each of constituents of an object product, including (a) a first unit collecting first data about environmental load at each of nodes relating to the object product, and (b) a second unit retrieving the first data stored in the first unit, and calculating the amount of each of constituents of the object product, based on the first data.
There is still further provided an apparatus for assessing total environmental load of an object product, including (a) a plurality of first units each collecting first data about environmental load at each of nodes relating to the object product, each of the first units being located at each of locations at which nodes relating to the object product are to be carried out, and (b) a single second unit retrieving the first data stored in each of the first units, and calculating total environmental load of the object product, based on the first data.
It is preferable that the second unit is separately located from the first units.
The apparatus may further include a network system through which the first units are connected to the second unit.
There is yet further provided an apparatus for assessing an amount of each of constituents of an object product, including (a) a plurality of first units each collecting first data about environmental load at each of nodes relating to the object product, each of the first units being located at each of locations at which nodes relating to the object product are to be carried out, and (b) a single second unit retrieving the first data stored in each of the first units, and calculating an amount of each of constituents of the object product, based on the first data.
There is still yet further provided an apparatus for assessing total environmental load of an object product, including (a) a plurality of first units each being located at each of nodes relating to the object product, and collecting first data about environmental load at each of the nodes, and (b) a second unit retrieving the first data stored in each of the first units, and calculating total environmental load of the object product, the first data including second data for retrieving data about environmental load of other node to which the each of nodes has a direct link, the second unit retrieving the first data directly associated with the object product, in accordance with a predetermined condition, and recursively retrieving other first data about environmental load, based on second data included in the first data having been retrieved, to thereby calculate total environmental load.
It is preferable that the apparatus further includes (a) a network system through which the first units are connected to the second unit, and (b) an address administration server connected to the network system, the address administration server dealing with a network address of one of the first units, based on the second data.
It is preferable that the second unit is comprised of (a) a data-storing section storing the first data therein, (b) a data-retrieving section retrieving the first data, and (c) an assessing section assessing the total environmental load, based on the second data included in the first data having been retrieved.
There is further provided an apparatus for assessing an amount of each of constituents of an object product, including (a) a plurality of first units each being located at each of nodes relating to the object product, and collecting first data about an amount of each of the constituents at each of the nodes, and (b) a second unit retrieving the first data stored in each of the first units, and calculating an amount of each of the constituents of the object product, the first data including second data for retrieving data about environmental load of other node to which the each of nodes has a direct link, the second unit retrieving the first data directly associated with the object product, in accordance with a predetermined condition, and recursively retrieving other first data about environmental load, based on second data included in the first data having been retrieved, to thereby calculate an amount of each of the constituents.
The advantages obtained by the aforementioned present invention will be described hereinbelow.
In accordance with the present invention, the apparatus of assessing environmental load is comprised of the first and second units, and the second unit may be designed to be able to retrieve data about environmental load stored in the first unit. As a result, it is possible to locate the first unit far away from the second unit, namely, it is possible to locate the first unit in a location where data about environmental load is to be collected, such as a line of fabricating a product, a line of fabricating a part, and a line of disposing or recycling a product. Thus, the apparatus of assessing environmental load in accordance with the present invention makes it possible to input or update data about environmental load with ease.
In addition, since the first unit can be independently controlled, data about environmental load can be readily updated, and hence, it would be possible to make environmental load assessment with accuracy, based on updated data about environmental load.
In accordance with the present invention, the first unit can be installed in a line of fabricating a product or a part or a line of disposing or recycling a product. Hence, it is possible automatically collect data about environmental load, resulting in that data about environmental load can be efficiently collected.
In accordance with the present invention, data about environmental load or first data may be designed to include the second data for retrieving data about environmental load in other node to which each of nodes has a direct link. When assessment of total environmental load is to be made, first data directly associated with an object product is retrieved in accordance with a predetermined condition, and other first data is recursively retrieved based on second data included in first data having been retrieved. Hence, even if different part manufacturers fabricate parts of the first unit, it is possible to swiftly and accurately calculate total environmental load without knowledge as to where data about environmental load in each of nodes is.
The above and other objects and advantageous features of the present invention will be made apparent from the following description made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the drawings.